Review of Frantic (1988) by Nick G — 31 Jan 2013

Dr. Richard Walker's wife vanishes without a trace from their Parisian hotel room, and the authorities are helpless to find her. Has his wife run off with a mysterious person from her past, or has she become the unwitting pawn in an international smuggling ring? It will take the help of a young Parisian prostitute to find out the truth.

Roman Polanski returns with another top-rate thriller in FRANTIC! While "frantic" would never be used to describe the relative pacing of the film, it certainly fits Harrison Ford's electrifying performance.

The unassuming Dr. Walker sees sudden breaks in his calm exterior when he is faced with bureaucratic red tape and incompetent police work. Each new clue only seems to drive Dr. Walker farther from the truth, until he finally gathers enough information to confront his wife's kidnapper.

FRANTIC is cleverly written and beautifully set in the bustling streets of Paris, but if one thing can be counted against it, it is the seemingly spontaneous unraveling of the plot. The final reveal, then, becomes so random as to render much of its build useless.

It is saved by Polanski's tasteful European style and the playful relationship that exists between Harrison Ford and Emmanuelle Seigner in her international film debut. Despite its flaws, FRANTIC stacks up against many of Hitchcock's lesser films, and offers more than its fair share of mystery and suspense.